Editing MOSFET (section)

=== MOS integrated circuits ===
Following the development of [[clean room]]s to reduce contamination to levels never before thought necessary, and of [[photolithography]]<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1955-Photolithography.html |publisher=Computer History Museum |title=1955&nbsp;– Photolithography Techniques Are Used to Make Silicon Devices |access-date=2012-06-02}}</ref> and the [[planar process]] to allow circuits to be made in very few steps, the Si–SiO<sub>2</sub> system possessed the technical attractions of low cost of production (on a per circuit basis) and ease of integration. Largely because of these two factors, the MOSFET has become the most widely used type of transistor in the [[Institution of Engineering and Technology]] (IET).{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

General Microelectronics introduced the first commercial MOS integrated circuit in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1964-Commecial.htm|title=1964 – First Commercial MOS IC Introduced}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Additionally, the method of coupling two complementary MOSFETs (P-channel and N-channel) into one high/low switch, known as CMOS, means that digital circuits dissipate very little power except when actually switched.

The [[microprocessor chronology|earliest microprocessors]] starting in 1970 were all ''MOS microprocessors''; i.e., fabricated entirely from [[PMOS logic]] or fabricated entirely from [[NMOS logic]]. In the 1970s, ''MOS microprocessors'' were often contrasted with ''CMOS microprocessors'' and ''bipolar bit-slice processors''.<ref name="cushman">{{cite web|first=Robert H.|last=Cushman|url=http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/Microprocessors/EDN_Sep_20_1975_6502.pdf|title=2-1/2-generation μP's-$10 parts that perform like low-end mini's|publisher=EDN|date=20 September 1975|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=24 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424050556/http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/Microprocessors/EDN_Sep_20_1975_6502.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>